Dumb Bahrain tastes Dubai’s strike strife

Dubai, so often the pioneering driver of economic development in the Gulf, is well used to having neighbors copy its ideas. There must be a sense of satisfaction this morning to see the neighbors also get lumbered with some of the downsides. Workers on Bahrain’s Durrat al Bahrain project are striking over pay and conditions, and their bosses appear to have no idea how to sort the problem.
Media reports claim more than 1,000 workers are now locked in their camp, as the bosses on the $6bn project scratch their heads. The workers have been on strike for the past two days demanding better pay, hot water, better medical facilities and other basics such as lights in the toilets. They are being paid $150 a month and have been encouraged in their complaints; the Indian Ambassador says his government is planning to impose a minimum wage of $265 for all Indians in the Gulf.
“How will the company make millions without us, who they treat as slaves?” asks one worker. It is line that could be printed on strikers’ banners across the region. Dubai, for once, will be grateful the attention is elsewhere. It seems incredible the Bahrain Government, part owners of Durrat al Bahrain, didn’t realize that denying medical facilities and hot water - and paying subsistence-level wages - would cause a problem.